Viva Van certified herself as “The Face Of The West” with her impressive ranking in the 2022 PWI Women’s 150 list.
Van officially made her debut on the prestigious list, coming in at #50 this year.
After collecting five championships throughout the evaluation period, she established herself as the arguable face of the west coast region. In speaking with WrestleZone’s own Ella Jay, “The Hellbent Vixen” shared her reaction to receiving the recognition.
“It feels really good,” she said. “It just feels like all my hard work is finally being noticed because for years I would look at the list, ‘I didn’t make it. I didn’t make it this year. It’s okay, I just got to keep working, got to keep working.’ Finally we’re here, but I did not expect to make it 50 on my first year.”
When asked about a match or moment that stood out to her over the last year, Viva Van revealed that she “can’t really pinpoint one,” but expressed great pride for work in PCW Ultra and DEFY Wrestling. “I feel like there’s just something about PCW Ultra and DEFY. All my matches there have been so meaningful there and I’m so grateful to be a regular at DEFY, to be the first woman to bring a title there.”
Van continued to explain her role in representing the west coast scene, primarily working in places like California, Nevada, Washington, and Arizona. “That was one of the things that I noticed in the previous years, there weren’t that many west coast wrestlers on it,” she said.
“I also think the pandemic held the West Coast back a lot too because during 2020, a lot of wrestlers moved out of the west coast to do more work on the east coast. But I was like, ‘I’m glad I stuck it out’ because I feel like the West Coast is thriving right now. We have so many great promotions going on and a lot of people from the east coast are finally hearing about us. So, I’m happy about that.”
Recently, Viva Van defended her PCW Ultra Women’s Championship against veteran Sumie Sakai. Amidst her retirement tour, Sakai battled with Van again on October 22nd — three years after the two collided for the first time. Van described the moment as “an honor,” as Saki stands as the inaugural Women of Honor Champion for ROH, “period.”
“You just don’t need to say anything else. She was the first one, so that’s an honor in itself,” Van said. “But also just the 20 years that she’s put in has been amazing and I wish more people knew about her. [I wish] more people will give her the credit that she deserves. My first match with her, I was not ready.”
“I had no idea that I was wrestling her until I showed up,,” she continued. “So when I showed up, I honestly wasn’t — I felt like I didn’t know who I was yet at the time I was a wrestler. Also not knowing that I was going to wrestle really messed with my mental [state], like how you prepare yourself before a match. You want to know when it’s coming up, not like, ‘oh, last minute’ and then you go on. I mean, of course, I wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunity, but I took it and I wasn’t ready then. But this time around, it just felt good to get that approval from her that I’ve grown a lot and it’s almost like her passing torch to me. So it’s a huge honor.”
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